Routines that can never be accessed because
all calls to them have been removed, or code that cannot be reached
because it is guarded by a control structure that provably must
always transfer control somewhere else. The presence of dead code
may reveal either logical errors due to alterations in the program
or significant changes in the assumptions and environment of the
program (see also software rot); a good compiler should report
dead code so a maintainer can think about what it means.
(Sometimes it simply means that an extremely defensive
programmer has inserted can't happen tests which really can't
happen -- yet.) Syn. grunge. See also dead, and
The Story of Mel.